Word: orbitals
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
GJ1214b was discovered when the team detected a one percent faintness when the super-Earth eclipsed its host star during its orbit...
Also, climate scientists had assumed that the Antarctic ice sheets would have remained intact during that long-ago warm period. Because of changes in Earth's orbit, they know there would have been more sunlight hitting the Arctic back then, which means less sunlight in the Antarctic, and so, presumably, less melting...
...looking for a world where life might thrive, a planet must be at the right temperature for water to exist in liquid form. So it needs to orbit its star in the so-called habitable zone, a "Goldilocks" location that allows a planet to be neither too hot nor too cold. In that respect, GJ 1214b is again a near miss. Its surface temperature hovers at a sweltering 190°C (374°F), which is well above the boiling point of water, at least in Earth's atmospheric pressure. Fortunately, GJ 1214b's atmosphere makes the pressure...
...like stars; of the 300 stars closest to Earth, says Charbonneau, 220 or so are M-dwarfs. They're also much cooler than Sun-like stars, so their habitable zones are close-in. A planet in the Goldilocks position around an M-dwarf doesn't take a year to orbit, as Earth does; it takes only a few days (1.6 days, in the case of GJ 1214b). So astronomers need to wait only a few days to spot a planet passing by, and only a few weeks to confirm the orbit with several passes. (See pictures of different nations' space...
This expanse of high desert 35 miles southwest of Truth or Consequences, N.M., is the site of Spaceport America, a collaborative effort between the state and Richard Branson's space enterprise, Virgin Galactic, that hopes to send private citizens into near orbit as early as 2011. New Mexico is spending $198 million on construction; Virgin Galactic will lease the place for 20 years at a price of $200 million to $250 million. (See pictures of billionaire Richard Branson...